Disney’s Streaming Service Will Cost ‘Substantially’ Less Than Netflix

The announcement of Disney’s exclusive streaming service, which will be arriving in late 2019, caused many lovers of streamable movies and TV to roll our eyes. Yet another site to pay for every month, on top of our subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO Go, and, uh, CBS All Access? Do these people think we’re made of money? Well, it appears Disney is aware of the fact that not all of us are royalty with our own palaces and talking animal friends, and CEO Bob Iger has promised that Disney’s streaming service won’t put us all in debt.

“Our plan on the Disney side is to price this substantially below where Netflix is,” Iger said on Disney’s Q4 earnings call, per The Wrap. “That is in part reflective of the fact it’ll have less volume.” While Netflix and Amazon and the like have deals with other studios and channels for their content as well as original movies and TV shows, Disney’s will just have Disney, which makes a reduced cost more sensible. And, well, since Netflix seemingly can’t stop raising its prices, keeping it cheaper shouldn’t be too hard. Netflix subscription prices range between $7.99 and $13.99 a month, so it sounds like Disney would try something akin to CBS All Access’ more manageable $5.99 a month.

That said, Disney does own both Marvel and Star Wars, two extremely heavy-hitters with a lot of content in their respective houses aside from their blockbuster movie series. Disney’s exclusive service will have that appeal going for it, as well as all of the classic animated films and shows for parents who’ve already exhausted Netflix’s supply of bootleg kids’ cartoons. And there's also that live-action Star Wars TV series the company announced yesterday, expected to debut on the upcoming streaming service. It remains to be seen whether access to all of Disney’s properties are worth subscribing to on yet one more website.